Ernie Collett: the reserve player who stayed with the club for 37 years

By Tony Attwood

Ernest Collett known universally as Ernie, was born on 17 November 1914 in Sheffield. He started out playing for Oughtibridge Working Men’s Club, a club that is still extant playing in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior Football League.

Ernie joined Arsenal in April 1933 and won the Football Combination six times with the team in the 1930s, as well as playing 20 league games from 1933 onwards. He also made 187 wartime appearances, including playing for Brentford in the 1942 War cup final

He stayed registered with the club as a player until 1949 when he was 30 years old, and joined the coaching staff. From there he went on to become chief scout a post he held until the age of 60, when he retired. Tragically he was killed in a motor accident just five months later in 1980.

His first game came in a 1-1 draw at Stoke City in October 1937 where he replaced Wilf Copping and he is noted in reports as having a particularly effective long throw.

Collett’s best run in the Arsenal season was in 1938-39, when he made nine appearances deputising for Wilf Copping at left half.

Collett played another six league games in 1946-47 before stepping down from the Arsenal first-team entirely, though he continued to play reserve-team football until 1949.

After his retirement from playing, he became a member of the club’s backroom staff — he was at first George Male‘s assistant in coaching Arsenal’s youth team, before moving into scouting, eventually became the club’s chief scout, a job he held until his retirement in 1979; in total he was with Arsenal for 46 years,

There are many references to Ernie’s ability to pick out young players in training and recommend them for high things. References have him linked to spotting and promoting players such as Pat Rice, Peter Storey, Dave Simpson and Paul Davis.

Here are his stats as a player

Season

Competition

Games

1937-38

League Division One

5

1938-39

League Division One

9

1945-46

FA Cup

1

1946-47

League Division One

6

And the full list of his matches

Date

Match

Result

Competition

Round

23 Oct 1937

Stoke City v Arsenal

D

1-1

League

04 Dec 1937

Birmingham v Arsenal

W

1-2

League

05 Mar 1938

Arsenal v Stoke City

W

4-0

League

02 Apr 1938

Arsenal v Charlton Ac

D

2-2

League

09 Apr 1938

Leeds United v Arsenal

W

0-1

League

22 Oct 1938

Arsenal v Preston NE

W

1-0

League

29 Oct 1938

Bolton v Arsenal

D

1-1

League

01 Feb 1939

Arsenal v Wolverhampton

D

0-0

League

04 Feb 1939

Arsenal v Sunderland

W

2-0

League

04 Mar 1939

Arsenal v Bolton

W

3-1

League

11 Mar 1939

Leeds United v Arsenal

L

4-2

League

18 Mar 1939

Arsenal v Liverpool

W

2-0

League

25 Mar 1939

Leicester City v Arsenal

W

0-2

League

01 Apr 1939

Arsenal v Middlesbrough

L

1-2

League

05 Jan 1946

West Ham v Arsenal

L

6-0

FA Cup

3rd round 1st leg*

12 Oct 1946

Arsenal v Brentford

D

2-2

League

09 Nov 1946

Preston NE v Arsenal

L

2-0

League

16 Nov 1946

Arsenal v Leeds United

W

4-2

League

23 Nov 1946

Liverpool v Arsenal

L

4-2

League

07 Dec 1946

Middlesbrough v Arsenal

L

2-0

League

18 Jan 1947

Arsenal v Aston Villa

L

0-2

League

* The FA Cup in the post war season was run over two legs in each round. The league resume the following season.